What are Collocations?
Collocations are likely combinations of words.  They have been variously defined as 'the company words keep',' the way words combine in predictable ways',' portable chunks of language', or even as 'used language'.  Although the term itself may be unfamiliar, collocations are central to the way we receive and produce texts. Idioms and phrasal verbs, which already receive some attention in the English syllabus, fall under the overarching category of collocations.  It has been claimed that collocations of between one and five words account for around 70% of all text, whether written or spoken.

The Lexical approach to second-language teaching argues for a far greater emphasis in ESL curricula on the teaching and learning of collocations.  At the level of popular culture, this approach has already been adopted. Channel V regularly screens a segment called 'Go West', in which the presenter chooses a word, then explores the different phrases in which it is used in youth language.  This is a collocation lesson.

An analogy can be drawn between learning English through collocations and using a travel phrase book.  When visiting a foreign land, travelers use phrase books to learn a few useful chunks of the local language.  When the appropriate situation arises, the phrase is used.  This is collocation in action.  Even within our first languages, we rarely need to think through the grammar of what we say or write, as most of the time we are 'recycling' chunks of language we have heard and used before.  It is significant that grammar and other systemic structures are rarely made explicit to young children until they reach school, yet they have developed large functional vocabularies.  These are comprised of collocations learnt by listening to others.

Why Teach Collocations?
The first, and most obvious reason for emphasizing collocations in the English classroom, is the one outlined above.  That is, that learning by absorbing whole chunks of language is a natural way of acquiring new language, used by learners from birth.  The many students who know bits of dialogue from English films or television programs, or who recall the lyrics of pop songs, are already experienced 'chunk' learners.

Collocations promote fluency.  Most students tend to process the language that they hear, read, or speak, in a word-by-word manner.  This laborious method has two major drawbacks.  Firstly, meaning is created by the interplay of words.  By isolating each word, students lose the larger meaning of the text.  This is why they find tone, intent, and irony so difficult to apprehend.  They are so busy defining discrete terms, that the overarching meaning is lost. The second problem is that reading and listening and composing become such an effort that all enjoyment is lost in the process.  As a corollary, when students add new words to their vocabulary books, they tend to record single words. Very few students include the usage in which they found the word in the first place, nor do they list frequent collocates of the word.  It is incongruous that we seldom use single words to communicate, yet the students' vocabulary books (and some dictionaries) force words into a kind of linguistic solitary confinement.

Fluency is of particular relevance to spoken English.  While we all learn to speak long before we write, the syllabus in Hong Kong focuses on writing and formality at the expense of speech and informality, reversing the natural order.  The product of this focus is a student body which writes competently, but speaks reluctantly and over-formally.  Studies of language production reveal, however, that fluent speech (irrespective of the level of formality or education) consists primarily of short phrases rather than grammatical sentences.  Many of these short phrases are collocations.  Learners must, therefore, be exposed to as much fluent, natural (not textbook) speech as is possible.  The chunks within this speech must also be highlighted.

Emphasizing collocations can also alleviate some of the psychological stress felt by students whenever they produce texts in their new language.  Word-by-word construction is joyless, laborious, and intimidating.  If students have a store of chunks to build their texts around, they are more confident in the grammar and meaning of that chunk.  Collocations provide 'islands of reliability' around which students can feel more reassured and confident that they are communicating accurately

Many of our students write a sparse prose, which is almost devoid of adjectives or adverbs. This manifests itself in either of two quite distinct ways.  The first symptom is that the student simply fails to produce many words.  Sentences and paragraphs are dominated by nouns and verbs, thereby rendering the prose blunt, brief, and simplistic.  Paradoxically, the second sign is that the student is verbose.  Unable to collocate nouns and verbs with suitable adjectives or adverbs, they write whole adverbial and adjectival clauses and sentences where one collocate would suffice. The resulting prose is unwieldy and flows falteringly.  Many students are actually aware of this shortcoming in their writing, but choose to cultivate it in an effort to reach the set word target.  If the students were more aware of the collocational partnerships between key nouns, verbs and adverbials, their writing would be simple without being simplistic, and more concisely meaningful.

The final reason for teaching language in chunks is that it reduces the load put on grammar in making meaning.  Native speakers do not use grammar to construct their utterances.  They simply arrange prefabricated chunks of language.  The problem faced by many second-language students is that without a sufficiently large bank of chunks to draw on, they are left to make meaning using grammatical rules instead.  The complexity of these rules leads to confusion.  Most markers have read sentences which are grammatically sound, yet practically nonsensical.  This is not to say that teaching students more collocations means that grammar can be abandoned.  Rather it allows the students to create meaning by using a chunk that has the grammar built-in already.  This will also reduce the number of grammatical errors in the text.

How can Collocations be taught?
The most important tool for learners of English, whether they are following a lexical approach or not, is the phrasebook, where new words or phrases are recorded.  Most students keep, with varying degrees of diligence, a book into which they enter new vocabulary items.  As mentioned earlier, however, most of the entries in these books are based on single words, devoid of collocational context. Most students write the headword, its meaning (in Chinese and/or English), and little or nothing else.  A more meaningful and usable entry should include:  the sentence/phrase in which the new term was found;  a definition;  and a list of the headword's  most likely collocates.  When the student wants to use this word at some later date, the phrasebook can provide a usable chunk rather than an isolated word.

As teachers, it is necessary for us to make a shift from teaching vocabulary as discrete words to presenting words with their usual collocates.  Phrases are far more useful to students than words.  When preparing students for composition writing, it is essential that they be given phrases and collocation related to the generic structure of the essay, as well as to the subject matter they must cover.  When students write compositions, the combination of unfamiliar subject matter and new vocabulary makes the process a daunting one.  By providing usable phrases which students can use without worrying about their aptness or grammatical correctness, a collocations sheet helps them to get started with more confidence.

Dictionaries appear on all English booklists, but our students use them far less often than they should.  Much of the blame for this lies with the nature of the dictionaries themselves.  Many of them provide circular, unhelpful definitions which do not give the student the chunks they need to use the word in their own work.  This problem has, however, been addressed in several dictionaries now available.  The Cobuild provides many more collocations than most dictionaries.  The LTP Dictionary of Selected Collocations, and the BBI Dictionary of English Word Combinations, aim specifically to give readers extensive lists of the words most likely to occur with each headword.  The former also has a companion exercises book which provides teachers with examples of exercises they can use to teach collocations in class.